Blue Trust Inc. Reduces Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its stake in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 35.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 395 shares of the company’s stock after selling 218 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in ESAB were worth $47,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in ESAB by 21.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,001,000 after purchasing an additional 337,983 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of ESAB by 33.5% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,081,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,989,000 after purchasing an additional 271,459 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ESAB by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,353,000 after buying an additional 190,583 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in ESAB in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $15,110,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in ESAB by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,512,000 after buying an additional 127,714 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Loop Capital increased their target price on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded ESAB from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $122.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on ESAB from $135.00 to $133.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 price objective (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ESAB presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.14.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESAB opened at $124.51 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.36. ESAB Co. has a twelve month low of $88.54 and a twelve month high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.13. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 9.66%. The business had revenue of $633.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.43 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is 7.41%.

ESAB Company Profile

ESAB Corporation engages in the formulation, development, manufacture, and supply of consumable products and equipment for use in cutting, joining, automated welding, and gas control equipment. Its comprehensive range of welding consumables includes electrodes, cored and solid wires, and fluxes using a range of specialty and other materials; and cutting consumables comprising electrodes, nozzles, shields, and tips.